Anand Lives Dangerously In Game 9

Game 9 of the 2012 World Chess Championship was the longest of the match so far, and Boris Gelfand was better for the majority of the game.

The challenger stuck to 1.d4 and this time the champion switched to the Nimzo-Indian defence. No Slav today!

Gelfand achieved a comfortable edge, and it looked like a third decisive game might result.

Then Anand tempted Gelfand into playing 19. c5 which let Gelfand win the queen in exchange for a rook, knight and pawn, but the resulting endgame was not so easy to convert to a win.

Once Anand successfully constructed a fortress a frustrated Gelfand had to settle for a draw in a very hard-fought struggle!

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Name

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Pts

Vishy Anand

½

½

½

½

½

½

0

1

½

.

.

.

4½

Boris Gelfand

½

½

½

½

½

½

1

0

½

.

.

.

4½

.

.Boris Gelfand contemplates playing 19.c5

.

Vishy Anand building a fortress

.

Peter Svidler demonstrating black's impregnable fortress after Ng8

..

Game 9 was arguably a moral victory for Gelfand, but moral victories don't win the world title. With just 3 games remaining, Anand has two whites left and probably the better chances of landing a killer blow.

Game 10 is tomorrow (24 May) when Anand will have the white pieces.

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All games start at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC). The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and a final 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 seconds increment after move 61.

The prize fund is $2.55 million, with the winner receiving $1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).

If the match is level after 12 games there will be a 4-game rapid match tie-break at 25 minutes per game plus 10 second increment. If scores are still level a 2-game blitz match will be played at 5 minutes plus 3 second increment. If the deadlock is still not broken, there can be up to 5 of the these 2-game blitz matches before a sudden-death blitz game will decide the winner (5 minutes for white, 4 minutes for black, and a 3 second increment from move 61).